A working reference for eCommerce, SaaS and lead-generation teams in Sweden and the Nordics: the ROAS you actually need at your margin, the cost per lead you can afford, and the outcomes we measure across €2.1M of monthly managed ad spend.
There is no single 'good ROAS' in the Nordics or anywhere else. The only universal benchmark is your break-even point, which is set entirely by gross margin: break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ gross margin. Everything above that is contribution; everything below is subsidised revenue.
The table converts margin into the minimum ROAS that keeps you whole, plus a practical prospecting target that leaves roughly 20–40% headroom for fulfilment, returns and overheads.
| Gross margin | Break-even ROAS | Prospecting target | Blended target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20% | 5.0x | 6.0–7.0x | 6.5x+ |
| 30% | 3.3x | 4.0–4.7x | 4.3x+ |
| 40% | 2.5x | 3.0–3.5x | 3.3x+ |
| 50% | 2.0x | 2.4–2.8x | 2.6x+ |
| 60% | 1.7x | 2.0–2.4x | 2.2x+ |
| 70% | 1.4x | 1.7–2.0x | 1.9x+ |
Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ gross margin. Targets add a 20–40% contribution band for fulfilment, returns and overheads. Run your own figures in the break-even ROAS calculator.
Ad spend is best expressed as a share of revenue rather than an absolute budget, because it scales with the business and survives seasonality. The bands below are the planning ranges we use when building budgets for brands between €0.5M and €30M in annual revenue.
Cost per lead is meaningless without the two numbers behind it: gross profit per closed deal and lead-to-customer rate. Allowable CPL = (gross profit per deal × lead-to-customer rate) ÷ payback multiple. A payback multiple of 3 means you want three euros of gross profit for every euro of acquisition cost.
The table shows allowable CPL at a payback multiple of 3, which is the figure most Nordic B2B and B2C teams we work with can defend to a CFO.
| Gross profit per deal | Lead → customer | Allowable CPL |
|---|---|---|
| €500 | 10% | €17 |
| €1,000 | 10% | €33 |
| €2,500 | 8% | €67 |
| €5,000 | 6% | €100 |
| €10,000 | 5% | €167 |
| €25,000 | 4% | €333 |
Allowable CPL = gross profit per deal × lead-to-customer rate ÷ 3. Raise or lower the multiple to match your cash position and sales-cycle length.
For subscription products the benchmark is not ROAS but CAC payback in months and the LTV:CAC ratio. CAC payback = blended CAC ÷ monthly gross profit per customer. LTV:CAC = (ARPA × gross margin ÷ monthly churn) ÷ CAC.
Self-serve products in the Nordics live or die on payback: a €99/month product at 80% gross margin generates roughly €79 of monthly gross profit, so a €950 CAC takes about 12 months to repay before any churn is accounted for.
Meta, Google and TikTok each claim conversions inside their own attribution windows, so their combined reported revenue almost always exceeds what your shop or CRM recorded. This is expected behaviour, not a bug, and it is the reason we report on blended MER alongside platform ROAS.
Blended MER = total revenue ÷ total ad spend across all platforms. It reconciles directly with Shopify, WooCommerce or your ERP, and it is the number we hold ourselves to.
These are Vibe Digital's published figures, measured across 700+ client cooperations and roughly €2.1M in monthly managed ad spend. The methodology behind each one is documented on our measurement page.
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Average eCommerce return on ad spend | +913% |
| Average client ROI | +729% |
| Average improvement vs previous agency within 4 months | +94% |
| Client retention rate | 89% |
| Client cooperations to date | 700+ |
| Managed ad spend per month | €2.1M |
Measurement standards for every figure are published at vibedigi.tech/our-method.
Whatever clears your break-even ROAS with room to spare. Break-even ROAS is 1 ÷ gross margin, so a 40% margin brand breaks even at 2.5x and should target roughly 3.0–3.5x on prospecting. A 70% margin brand breaks even at 1.4x. Comparing your ROAS to another brand's without knowing their margin tells you nothing.
Most Nordic eCommerce brands growing 20–50% per year land between 8% and 15% of revenue. Below 5% of revenue you usually cannot hold a stable learning phase in a market the size of Sweden. Above 15% should be a deliberate, time-boxed scaling decision backed by margin headroom.
There is no market-wide number — a €40 lead is cheap for a €10,000 deal and ruinous for a €300 one. Calculate allowable CPL as gross profit per closed deal × lead-to-customer rate ÷ your payback multiple, then manage the campaigns to that ceiling.
Each platform claims conversions inside its own attribution window, and several platforms can claim the same order. Reconcile with blended MER — total revenue ÷ total ad spend — and use platform ROAS only to compare campaigns inside that platform.
The formulas are universal; the planning ranges reflect what we see running paid media for Swedish and Nordic brands, where audience sizes are small enough that thin budgets struggle to exit the learning phase and creative fatigue arrives faster than in larger markets.
Yes. Request a free ad account audit and we will map your margin, allowable CPL or CAC payback against your live account data and return a written read within 48–72 hours of getting access.
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Meta, Google or TikTok — a senior specialist reviews your account and sends a concrete growth plan within 48–72 hours of access. No obligation, no lock-in.